Method and system for discovering edge-server or edge-service through domain name server (dns) resolution

ABSTRACT

A method of discovering edge-servers and services through domain name server (DNS) resolution in a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform based network is provided. The method includes communicating a DNS-query from a user-equipment to a DNS server, wherein DNS query pertains to a user-request for accessing one or more web-based services. The user equipment (UE) receives, from the DNS server, a response comprising details with respect to a plurality of available-servers configured for rendering the web-based services. The details comprises at-least one of, an indication of the server being edge server associated with the MEC platform or a remote-server, a location of the server, and one or more services associated with the server. Each of the available servers are evaluated by the UE based on the response at-least based on the plurality of associated services and a distance of the server with respect to the UE. The UE selects the nearby edge-server and/or remote server out of the available servers for accessing the one or more requested web-based services at-least based on the evaluation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of an Indian Provisional Patent application number 201941014880,filed on Apr. 12, 2019, in the Indian Patent Office and of an IndianNon-Provisional Patent application number 201941014880, filed on Mar.13, 2020, in the Indian Patent Office, the disclosures of each of whichare incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND Field

The disclosure relates to telecommunication-systems and in-particular todomain name server (DNS) resolution systems.

Description of the Related Art

Mobile edge computing (MEC) extends cloud computing and services to theedge of a network, for example, using computing-nodes deployed insideaccess-networks, mobile devices, or IoT end devices such as sensors andactuators. MEC has the potential to provide data, computing, storage,and application services at the network edge using methods similar tocloud computing in remote data centers. The field of edge computing mayinclude developments toward mobile network applications (i.e., mobileedge computing) and IoT-focused applications (i.e., fog computing).

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified format that are further described in the detailed descriptionof the disclosure. This summary is not intended to identify key oressential inventive concepts of the claimed subject matter, nor is itintended for determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Aspects of the disclosure are to address at least the above-mentionedproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to providea method of discovering edge-server or edge-service through domain nameserver (DNS) resolution in a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform basednetwork. The method comprises communicating a DNS-query from auser-equipment to a DNS server, wherein DNS query pertains to auser-request for accessing one or more web-based services. The UEreceives, from the DNS server, a response comprising details withrespect to a plurality of available-servers configured for rendering theweb-based services. The details comprises at-least one of, an indicationof the server being edge server associated with the MEC platform or aremote-server, a location of the server (e.g. current geographicallocation in case of a mobile-server or a pre-defined location in case ofa stationary-server), and one or more services associated with theserver. Each of the available servers are evaluated by the UE based onthe response at-least based on the plurality of associated services anda distance of the server with respect to the UE. Thereafter, the UEselects the nearby edge-server and/or remote server out of the availableservers for accessing the one or more requested web-based servicesat-least based on the evaluation.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented embodiments.

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a user-equipmentdiscovering edge-server or edge-service through DNS resolution in amobile edge computing (MEC) platform based network is provided. The UEincludes a transmitter for communicating a DNS-query to a DNS server,such that the DNS query pertains to a user-request for accessing one ormore web-based services. Further, the UE comprises a receiver forreceiving, from the DNS server, a response comprising details withrespect to a plurality of available-servers configured for rendering theweb-based applications. The details comprises at-least one of anindication of the server being edge server associated with the MECplatform or remote sever, a location of the server, and one or moreservices associated with the server. The UE comprises a processor forevaluating each of the available servers at-least based on the pluralityof associated services a distance of the server with respect to the UE.Further, the UE is configured for selecting a nearby edge-server and/orremote server out of the available servers for accessing the one or morerequested web-based services at-least based on the evaluation.

In an implementation, the DNS server maintains a resource record (RR)with respect to a plurality of servers. The RR identifies each of theplurality of servers through one or more of server name, a flagindicating the type of server, a port number, a location, an IP address,an IP version, a priority level, type of services rendered, and type ofcontent rendered.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will become more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a state-of-the art communication network according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrates communication network according to variousembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication-flow in a communication networkaccording to the an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates method operations, according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example networking-environment, according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates another example networking-environment, according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates another example implementation of method operationsof FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example implementation of method-operations ofFIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates another example implementation of method operationsof FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a system diagram of an example communicationssystem, in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented,according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawingsare illustrated for simplicity and may not have been necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method interms of the most prominent operations involved to help to improveunderstanding of aspects of the disclosure. Furthermore, in terms of theconstruction of the device, one or more components of the device mayhave been represented in the drawings by symbols, and the drawings mayshow only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding theembodiments of the disclosure so as not to obscure the drawings withdetails that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart having benefit of the description herein.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions andconstructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of thedisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of thedisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of thedisclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated inthe drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. Itwill nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of thedisclosure is thereby intended, such alterations and furthermodifications in the illustrated system, and such further applicationsof the principles of the disclosure as illustrated therein beingcontemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to whichthe disclosure relates.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoinggeneral description and the following detailed description areexplanatory of the disclosure and are not intended to be restrictivethereof.

Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect”or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Thus, appearances of thephrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar languagethroughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer tothe same embodiment.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof,are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process ormethod that comprises a list of operations does not include only thoseoperations but may include other operations not expressly listed orinherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices orsub-systems or elements or structures or components proceeded by“comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude theexistence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements orother structures or other components or additional devices or additionalsub-systems or additional elements or additional structures oradditional components.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this disclosure belongs. The system, methods, andexamples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to belimiting.

Embodiments of the disclosure will be described below in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) enabled applications in mobile andwireless-devices require usage of an MEC-platform (e.g. life cyclemanagement (LCM) proxy) to find the edge-servers.

FIG. 1 illustrates a state-of-the art communication network according tothe related art.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example telecommunication-system incorporatingthe MEC architecture is depicted, wherein MEC-Enabled Apps get the listof MEC-servers using MEC-Platform. However, there is no provision toidentify the presence of edge-servers using a DNS-Lookup. Accordingly,UE cannot itself determine the lowest latency MEC or Cloud Server andhas to rely on RTT-protocol.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate another state-of-the art communicationnetwork according to the related art.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the MEC Platform provides some/all of the servicesprovided by the remote-servers of a domain. Accordingly, the userequipment (UE) has to identify the services by using MEC-layer. Theabove case is an example of MEC Service Discovery.

Referring to FIG. 2B in continuation to FIG. 2A, MEC architecture has adedicated server named LCM Proxy for service discovery. This causesextra overhead for UE since UE has to request an LCM Proxy-server forservice-information. Quoting an example, if a UE wishes to connect withgaming-service, it has to find the MEC or cloud server through DNSserver route upon having been turned down by the edge server. This hasbeen further referred in FIG. 3

FIG. 3 illustrates a state-of-the art communication-flow in acommunication network according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, operation 301 represent UE exploring available MECservices through connecting with LCM proxy, which is an Authenticatedserver for MEC Service Discovery. At operation 302, the UE connects withan Edge server (i.e., a base station, an eNB, or a gNB) if the MECservices requested by the UE are available at the edge server. Else, atoperation 303, the UE resorts to a DNS look-up for exploring therequested services. At operation 304, the UE is connected to the remotecloud server based on the address provided by the DNS server. The UE isconnected to the remote cloud-server hosting the desired service basedon the address provided by the DNS server. Accordingly, the UE has tocompulsorily undergo at-least the operations 301 and 302 before itconnects the right server.

Overall, the state of the art UEs or state of the art MEC-enabled appsin the UE are not aware of the lowest-latency MEC/Cloud server.Moreover, service discovery in UE using MEC Layer does not meet thestrict delay requirements of MEC. Last but not the least, as per thestate of the art, neither UE has any provision to browse network forservices nor servers refer their services.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination hasbeen made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates method operations, according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, the disclosure illustrates a method of discoveringedge-server and edge-service through domain name server (DNS) resolutionin a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform based network.

The method comprises communicating (operation 402) a DNS-query from auser-equipment to a DNS server. an application may include at least oneweb-based service. When the application is executed in the UE or theapplication is provided through the UE, the UE needs address informationof a server corresponding to at least one web-based service for theapplication. Thus, DNS-query is related to user requests to access atleast one web-based service.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a DNS-query mayinclude a representative domain name for the application. That is, theDNS-query may include one main domain name in place of at least onedomain name corresponding to at least one web-based service. Forexample, one or more domain names corresponding to one or more web-basedservices may be img.xyz.com, chat.xyz.com. In this case, therepresentative domain name for the application or the one or more domainnames may be xyz.com.

The DNS-query pertains to a user-request for accessing one or moreweb-based services. The communication of the DNS query from UE comprisesidentifying an application within the DNS query and a parameter relatedto:

a. accessing content or information; and

b. discovering standard services defined by one or more of hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP), quick UDP internet connections (QUIC), filetransfer protocol (FTP);

c. discovering non-standard services pertaining to one or more ofadvertisements, medical, or gaming services.

The method further comprises receiving (operation 404), by the UE fromthe DNS server, a response comprising details with respect to aplurality of available-servers configured for rendering the web-basedservices. The details comprise at-least one of: an indication of theserver being edge server associated with the MEC platform or aremote-server, a location of the server (current-geographical locationin case of a mobile-server or a pre-defined location in case of astationary-server, For example, location can be expressed in latitudeand longitude.), or one or more services associated with the server. Theresponse from the DNS server comprises receiving, with respect to eachof the plurality of edge and/or remote servers, a parameter as at-leastone of: a current-load, the type of services rendered, a target servername, a port information, a protocol supported by the server, and an IPaddress.

In an implementation, the DNS server maintains a resource-record (RR) ora data structure with respect to a plurality of servers. The RRidentifies each of the plurality of servers one or more of:

server name;

a flag indicating the type of server;

a port number;

a location;

an IP address;

an IP version;

a priority level;

type of services rendered; and

type of content rendered

In case the UE is operating as a smartphone having an operating-systemsupporting MEC application then as a part of precursor operations, themethod comprises receiving MEC enabled applications from the MECplatform during registering of the device with a mobile networkoperator. During the launching of the MEC enabled applications, thesmartphone based UE communicates the DNS query.

The method further comprises evaluating (operation 406) by the UE basedon the response, each of the available servers at least based on theplurality of associated services and a distance of the server withrespect to the UE. In an implementation, the evaluation comprisesdetermining distance between:

a) the UE and each of the edge server; and

b) the UE and each of the remote server.

Such evaluation of the server by the UE for availing the servicecomprises identifying the list of services associated with the edgeserver of MEC platform or remote server, classifying the plurality ofservers configured to render the service based on a priority andweightage associated with servers as received within the response; anddetermining one or more nearest server out of the edge-servers and theremote servers for the requested web-based service based on the distancewith respect to the UE and the classification to thereby enable theselection of a low-latency server as a part of selection of the nearbyserver.

Further, the method comprises selecting (operation 408) by the UE nearbyedge server and/or a remote server out of the available servers foraccessing the one or more requested web-based services at-least based onthe evaluation with low-latency. Likewise, the nearest server forexecuting the MEC enabled application is located for minimizing latency.

In an implementation, the UE may include a processor, a transceiver, atransmit/receive element, a speaker/microphone, a keypad, adisplay/touchpad, non-removable memory, removable memory, a powersource, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset, and otherperipherals. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a specialpurpose processor, a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in associationwith a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, etc.

The transmit/receive element may be configured to transmit signals to,or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station) overthe air interface. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receiveelement may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RFsignals. The transmit/receive element may include any number oftransmit/receive elements. More specifically, the wirelesstransmit/receive unit (WTRU) may employ multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU may include two ormore transmit/receive elements (e.g., multiple antennas) fortransmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface.

The transceiver may be configured to modulate the signals that are to betransmitted by the transmit/receive element and to demodulate thesignals that are received by the transmit/receive element. The processormay also be coupled to the GPS chipset, which may be configured toprovide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regardingthe current location of the WTRU. In addition to, or in lieu of, theinformation from the GPS chipset, the WTRU may receive locationinformation over the air interface from a base station (e.g., basestations) and/or determine its location based on the timing of thesignals being received from two or more nearby base stations. As may beunderstood, the server-location may be a current geographical locationin case of a mobile-server or a pre-defined location in case of astationary-server.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example networking-environment, according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, the UE, DNS server, MEC platform based edge serverand the remote server interact through the operations 402 to 408 asdepicted in the previous FIG. 4.

In an implementation, the DNS server is incorporated with a resourcerecords or a data structure mobile edge computing-DNS (“MEC-D”) forallowing the UE to performing service discovery. The resource record isemployed for identifying the server name, finding the port number to beused, finding the applicable location of the server, resolving theserver name to IP address in a single DNS query. MEC-D enabled devicessend “Type EDX DNS query” to identify the lowest latency server thatsupports a specific service. MEC-D enabled DNS Servers respond to theEDge eXchanger (EDX) DNS Query by providing the list of serverssupporting the requested service along with the target server name,priority, port, location and its IP address.

In an implementation the DNS request corresponding to operation 402 fora domain is defined by “EDX DNS lookup for main domain xyz.com”

As a part of response, the DNS response in operation 404 advertises atleast of service associated with the main domain “xyz.com” as availablethrough the edger server and remote server. In an example, the operation404 may be defined by the format:

3600 IN EDX mec.img.xyz.com port. 80 43.200 55.130 5 A10.25.175.14

3600 IN EDX chat.xyz.com. 389 23.000 32.000 6 A 250.158.14.71

Based thereupon through operation 408, the UE access the “imageservices” by connecting to edge server defined by address “80 43.20055.130 5 A10.25.175.14.” The UE accesses the “chat services” byconnecting to remote server defined by address “389 23.000 32.000 6 A250.158.14.71”.

Further, the DNS response may include information on at least one serveror a plurality of servers for each service type. For example,information of a plurality of servers is included for the image service,and information of one server for the chat service may be included.

In selecting these two types of servers, processes for selecting a lowlatency server are necessary.

For this purpose, UE location identification can be derived by thefollowing process.

The MEC-D of the DNS server can select a low latency server based on thelocation information of the UE and the location information of theservers.A) Using global positioning system (GPS): If UE Location Serviceis ON, MEC-D in DNS server uses the GPS service to identify UE'sLocation

B) Using Cell identification (ID)/wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi): If UELocation Service is not available, MEC-D in DNS SERVER utilizes the CellID and/or Wi-Fi to identify UE's Locations

The UE itself is configured to discovering the nearest server by one ormore:

A) EDGE Flag in EDX RR: EDX RR contains a flag to denote remote and edgeservers. MEC-D utilize it to discover edge servers

B) Server Location from EDX RR: Nearest server will be calculated basedon the Geographical distance i.e., Latitude and Longitude information ofserver received in the DNS Response.

At least due to aforesaid, the resource record MEC-D (MEC DNS) in theDNS server enhances the user experience by enabling UE to identifylowest latency MEC server and perform service discovery. As may beunderstood, the MEC-D provides a new DNS Resource Record (RR) type namedEDX (EDge eXchanger) Record to achieve it. EDX RR enables UE to explorethe network for all available services, and to discover the edge serversfor low latency using the location information. In addition, EDX RRenables servers to advertise service types and to provide informationrequired access it.

The data structure of the RR may be tabulated as follows:

The domain-name for which these RR Owner refers to. TTL Standard DNSmeaning [RFC 1035]. Class Standard DNS meaning [RFC 1035]. EDX recordsoccur in the IN Class. Edge:. A flag to set the target host as edge orremote server Service: The symbolic name of the services supported bythe owner. Proto The symbolic name of the protocol supported by targethost, with an underscore (_) prepend to prevent collisions with DNSlabels that occur in nature Target-host:.. The domain name of the targethost Port: The port on this target host of this service. Lat Thelatitude of the location of the Target-host. Long: The latitude of thelocation of the Target-host. Priority The priority of this Target-host.Version The Internet Protocol (IP) Version defines the type of targethost IP address .Address: A 128 bit Internet address.

According to an embodiment, the MEC-D (or DNS server) may determinewhether the edge server for the UE is based on the location informationof the UE and the location information of the server. According to thedetermination, the MEC-D (or DNS server) may transmit informationindicating whether an edge server is present to the UE through an edgeflag in the data structure of the EDX RR. Further, according to anembodiment, the DNS response may include information of a plurality ofservers.

At this time, the UE can calculate the distance based on the locationinformation of the UE and the location information of the server, usingthe location information of the server (for example, latitude andlongitude in the table), and select a nearby server by predictinglatency. In addition, according to an embodiment, the priority of thetable may be for MEC-D (or DNS server) to indicate the proximity of thecorresponding server based on the location information of the UE and thelocation information of the server.

Alternatively, the priority may be information about a relative latency(or proximity) between the corresponding terminal and the servers whenthe DNS response includes information of a plurality of servers. Inaddition, the priority may be information in which the latency isconsidered along with QoS, policies, and the like for servicing theterminal.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example networking-environment, according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, the UE which is smailphone, DNS server, MECplatform based edge server and the remote server interact through theoperations 402 to 408 as depicted in the previous FIG. 4. The precursoroperations or factory-setting configuration based operations comprisereceiving MEC enabled applications from the MEC platform duringregistering of the device with a mobile network operator. During thelaunching of the MEC enabled applications, the smailphone based UEcommunicates the DNS query.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example implementation of method operationsof FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, it depicts precursor operations or ancillaryoperations to the method operations of FIG. 4 by depicting a DNS ServerConfiguration for EDX RR. As shown in the figure, the DNS server of themobile network operator maintains the resource record RR or MEC-D whichis regularly updated with the addresses of MEC server (D as shown inFIG. 7) and remote cloud servers (A, B, C as shown in FIG. 7). For suchpurpose, the network operator DNS server interacts with an authoritativename server, which also maintains RR or MEC-D with respect to the cloudservers.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example implementation of method-operations ofFIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, an overall operation of mCloudlet as a part of MEC.

Operation 801 refers to the DDNS updated as referred in FIG. 7. AnmCloudlet infrastructure allows the service provider to update theirserver location and service details in operator DNS server by DDNSupdate.

Operation 802 corresponds to the operations 402 and 404. When awhitelisted application tries to connect with the server, mCloudletclient on the device sends EDX query to the operator DNS server andgather the details of all available server's location and runningservices.

Operation 803 corresponds to operation 406. The mCloudlet client on thedevice computes the distance between UE and server based on its locationand finds the nearest server. For service discovery, mCloudlet on thedevice identifies and classifies the services based on the priority andweightage received from the EDX response.

Operation 804 corresponds to operation 408. Based on calculation inoperation 803, mCloudlet finds the nearest edge server and explorersrunning services on the edge servers

FIG. 9 illustrates another example implementation of method operationsof FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, the UE avails lowest latency and service discoveryusing DNS lookup. In an implementation, a Lowest Latency Gaming Serveris found as MEC server, while a Lowest Latency Ad Server is found as theremote cloud server based on the DNS look up.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an example communications system in which one ormore disclosed embodiments may be implemented according to an embodimentof the disclosure. The communications system 100 may be a multipleaccess system that provides content, such as voice, data, video,messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. Thecommunications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to accesssuch content through the sharing of system resources, including wirelessbandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one ormore channel access methods, such as code division multiple access(CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA(SC-FDMA), and the like.

Referring to FIG. 10, the communications system 100 may include UEs orwireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d, aradio access network (RAN) 104, a core network 106, a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112,though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplateany number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements.Each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may be any type of deviceconfigured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. Byway of example, the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may be configuredto transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include userequipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, apager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), asmartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor,consumer electronics, and the like. The communications systems 100 mayalso include a base station 114 a and a base station 114 b. Each of thebase stations 114 a, 114 b may be any type of device configured towirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c,102 d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, suchas the core network 106, the Internet 110, and/or the other networks112. By way of example, the base stations 114 a, 114 b may be a basetransceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNodeB, a Home Node B, a HomeeNodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, andthe like. While the base stations 114 a, 114 b are each depicted as asingle element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114 a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and/or networkelements.

The base station 114 a may be part of the RAN 104, which may alsoinclude other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such asa base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relaynodes, etc. The base station 114 a and/or the base station 114 b may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals within aparticular geographic region, which may be referred to as a cell (notshown). The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example,the cell associated with the base station 114 a may be divided intothree sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114 a mayinclude three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. Inanother embodiment, the base station 114 a may employ multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize multipletransceivers for each sector of the cell.

The base stations 114 a, 114 b may communicate with one or more of theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d over an air interface 116, which may beany suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF),microwave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). Theair interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio accesstechnology (RAT). More specifically, as noted above, the communicationssystem 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or morechannel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, andthe like. For example, the base station 114 a in the RAN 104 and theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using widebandCDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such asHigh-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA mayinclude High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-SpeedUplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

In another embodiment, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Inother embodiments, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.16 (i.e.,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000,CDMA2000 IX, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), InterimStandard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System forMobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114 b may be a wireless router, Home Node B, HomeeNodeB, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RATfor facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as aplace of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, and the like. In oneembodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d mayimplement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN). In another embodiment, the base station 114 band the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In anotherembodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d mayutilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A,etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 10, thebase station 114 b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.Thus, the base station 114 b may not be required to access the Internet110 via the core network 106.

The RAN 104 may be in communication with the core network 106, which maybe any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications,and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d. For example, the core network 106may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-basedservices, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution,etc., and/or perform high-level security functions, such as userauthentication.

The core network 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, 102 c, 102 d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/orother networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephonenetworks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks anddevices that use common communication protocols, such as thetransmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) andthe internet protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. Theother networks 112 may include wired or wireless communications networksowned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the othernetworks 112 may include another core network connected to one or moreRANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

Some or all of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d in thecommunications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities, i.e., theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may include multiple transceivers,transmitters, or receivers for communicating with different wirelessnetworks over different wireless links. For example, the WTRU 102 cshown in FIG. 10 may be configured to communicate with the base station114 a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with thebase station 114 b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

At least by virtue of aforesaid features of the disclosure, Mobile EdgeComputing (MEC) is configured to reduce latency, ensure highly efficientnetwork operation and service delivery, and offer an improved userexperience. In an example, the disclosure renders cloud-services withinthe close-proximity of mobile-subscribers and providing context-awareservices. Moreover, the MEC-enabled apps are configured to compute thelowest latency MEC/Cloud server, and the service-discovery in UserEquipment (UE) using MEC Layer is able to meet the strict-delayrequirements of MEC.

In an example, the resource record MEC-D (MEC DNS) in the DNS serverenhances the user experience by enabling UE to identify lowest latencyMEC server and perform service discovery. The MEC-D provided DNSResource Record (RR) enables UE to explore the network for all availableservices, to discover the edge-servers for low latency using thelocation information, and to advertise service types and to provideinformation required access it.

While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, anylimitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would beapparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may bemade to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taughtherein.

The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of thedescribed elements may well be combined into a single functionalelement. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiplefunctional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added toanother embodiment. For example, orders of processes described hereinmay be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein.

Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in theorder shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed.Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performedin parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no meanslimited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whetherexplicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences instructure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope ofembodiments is at least as broad as given by the following claims.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any component(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or component of any or all the claims.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tovarious embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed:
 1. A method of discovering edge-servers and servicesthrough domain name server (DNS) resolution in a mobile edge computing(MEC) platform based network, the method comprising: transmitting aDomain Name Server (DNS) query including a main domain name foraccessing at least one web-based service for an application from a userequipment (UE) to a DNS server; and receiving, by the user equipment(UE) from the DNS server, a DNS response including information on atleast one server in response to the DNS query from the DNS server,wherein details comprise at least one of: an indication indicatingwhether the server is an edge server, a location of the server, orpriorities of the server.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising: evaluating, by the UE based on the response, each of aplurality of available servers at least based on one or more associatedservices and a distance of the server with respect to the UE; andselecting by the UE a nearby edge server and/or a remote server out ofthe plurality of available servers for accessing the one or morerequested web-based services at least based on the evaluation.
 3. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: maintaining by the DNSserver a resource record (RR) with respect to a plurality of servers,the RR identifying, for each of a plurality of available servers, one ormore of: server name, a flag indicating a type of server, a port number,a location, an IP address, an IP version, a priority level, type ofservices rendered, or type of content rendered.
 4. The method as claimedin claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the DNS query from UE comprisesidentifying an application within the DNS query and a parameter relatedto at least one of: accessing content or information, discoveringstandard services defined by one or more of hypertext transfer protocol(HTTP), quick UDP internet connections (QUIC), or file transfer protocol(FTP), or discovering non-standard services pertaining to one or more ofadvertisements, medical, or gaming services.
 5. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the receiving of the response from the DNS servercomprises receiving, with respect to each of a plurality of edge and/orremote servers, a parameter as at least one of: a current-load, a typeof services rendered, a target server name, a port information, aprotocol supported by the server, or an IP address.
 6. The method asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the evaluation comprises determiningdistance between: the UE and each of the edge server, and the UE andeach of the remote servers.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe evaluation of the server by the UE for availing the servicecomprises: identifying a list of services associated with the edgeservers of a MEC platform and remote servers; classifying the pluralityof available servers configured to render the service based on apriority and weightage associated with servers as received within theresponse; and determining one or more nearest server out of the edgeservers and the remote servers for the requested web-based service basedon the distance with respect to the UE and the classification to therebyallow the selection of a low-latency server as a part of selection ofthe nearby server.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in caseof the UE operating as a smartphone, the method further comprising:receiving MEC enabled applications from the MEC platform duringregistering of the UE with a mobile network operator; and communicatingthe DNS query during launching of the MEC enabled applications withinthe UE and thereby selecting the nearest server for executing the MECenabled application with low latency.
 9. The method as claimed in claim3, wherein the RR further identifies, for each of the plurality ofavailable servers, a latitude and a longitude of a location.
 10. Themethod as claimed in claim 3, wherein the RR further identifies, foreach of the plurality of available servers, a name of a protocolsupported.
 11. A user equipment (UE) discovering edge-servers andservices through DNS resolution in a mobile edge computing (MEC)platform based network, the UE comprising: a transmitter configured tocommunicate a DNS-query to a DNS server, the DNS query pertaining to auser-request for accessing one or more web-based services; and areceiver configured to receive, from the DNS server, a responsecomprising details with respect to a plurality of available serversconfigured to render web-based applications, wherein the detailscomprises at least one of: an indication of a server being an edgeserver associated with the MEC platform or remote sever, a location ofthe server, or one or more services associated with the server.
 12. TheUE as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a processor configured to:evaluate each of the available servers, at least based on the one ormore associated services, a distance of the server with respect to theUE; and select by the UE a nearby edge server and/or a remote server outof the available servers for accessing the one or more requestedweb-based services at least based on the evaluation.
 13. The UE asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the DNS server interacting with the UEcomprises: a resource record (RR) maintained by the DNS server withrespect to a plurality of servers, the RR identifying, for each of theplurality of servers, one or more of: a server name, a flag indicating atype of server, a port number, a location, an IP address, an IP version,a priority level, type of services rendered, or type of contentrendered.
 14. The UE as claimed in claim 11, wherein the UE configuredfor receiving the response from the DNS server is configured forreceiving with respect to each of the plurality of available servers atleast one of: a current-load, a type of services rendered, a targetserver name, a protocol supported by the server, a port information, oran IP address.
 15. The UE as claimed in claim 13, wherein the RR furtheridentifies, for each of the plurality of available servers, a latitudeand a longitude of a location.
 16. The UE as claimed in claim 13,wherein the RR further identifies, for each of the plurality ofavailable servers, a name of a protocol supported.